According to Lithuania’s Migration Department, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians remain the largest foreign resident groups in the country, though their numbers have declined over the past year.
Evelina Gudzinskaitė, director of the Migration Department, reported that in January last year, over 86,000 Ukrainians lived in Lithuania, whereas this year the number has dropped to just over 77,000.
The number of Belarusian citizens in Lithuania decreased from 62,000 to 57,000, while the Russian population declined from 15,000 to 14,000.
“They remain the leading nationalities among foreign residents, but their numbers have fallen over the past year. The most significant decrease was among Belarusian citizens,” Gudzinskaitė stated.
She also noted that more than half of Russian citizens in Lithuania are permanent residents who have lived in the country since its independence, leaving the number of temporary Russian migrants at just over 6,000.
“This means that due to restrictive measures, Russian citizens are practically unable to move to Lithuania for permanent residence,” the Migration Department head explained.
